Live From Matt's House

The album, which was recorded March 15, 2007, at San Diego’s iPayOne Center, features several appearances—and compositions—by JJ Cale. At the time, Clapton and Cale—Clapton’s buddy and mentor—were casually supporting their recent studio effort, 2006’s Road to Escondido.

“This is the realization of what may have been my last ambition: to work with the man whose music has inspired me for as long as I can remember,” Clapton said of Road to Escondido in 2006. Cale died July 26, 2013.

Other featured performers include Derek Trucks—who handles the late Duane Allman’s slide parts on the album’s Derek and the Dominos tunes—plus Doyle Bramhall II and Robert Cray, who guests on “Crossroads.” Trucks also is heavily featured on “Motherless Children,” and it’s downright fun to watch Clapton and Trucks open up their bottomless bags of tasty slide licks in the clip below.

From a personal standpoint, Clapton’s 2007 backing band was his best ever (as a solo artist). As heard on Live in San Diego, their versions of Derek and the Dominos tracks—especially “Tell the Truth”—are unparalleled.

The original version of “Motherless Children,” one of the strongest opening cuts on a Clapton album since Cream’s Wheels of Fire, features Clapton on slide guitar, and it burns from the get-go. The song, which finds the guitarist delivering a playful variation of the melody during the twin guitar solos, was arranged by Clapton and his Derek and the Dominos band mate bassist Carl Radle. The song also features fine playing by second guitarist George Terry and drummer Jamie Oldaker.

Live in San Diego will be available September 30 as a two-disc CD, a three-disc vinyl set and as a digital album. If you pre-order the album at ericclapton.com, you’ll receive “Anyway the Wind Blows” (watch it here) immediately, plus two additional songs before the album’s release date. The album also is available for preorder via iTunes.

Eric Clapton, Live in San Diego Track Listing

“Tell the Truth”
“Key to the Highway”
“Got to Get Better in a Little While”
“Little Wing”
“Anyday”
“Anyway the Wind Blows”
“After Midnight”
“Who Am I Telling You?”
“Don’t Cry Sister”
“Cocaine”
“Motherless Children”
“Little Queen of Spades”
“Further on Up the Road”
“Wonderful Tonight”
“Layla”
“Crossroads”

I first saw Doyle play on the DVD Sessions for Robert J., which is also an album that Eric Clapton put out in 2004.  I saw this guy playing slide, left handed, on a right handed strat, upside down, with the strings strung backwards (look at the photo above).  I’d never seen anyone play like that.  The heavy strings are on the bottom and the light strings are on the top.  The only other person that I had heard of who played like this was Albert King (one of the three Kings – BB King, Albert King and Freddie King).

I saw Doyle play at the Bull Run restaurant in Shirly, MA (the place is fantastic and only 45 minutes away).  He was absolutly on fire that night.  He’ll be playing Portland, ME soon as well as Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry, NH later this year.  His latest album, “Rich Man” will be released later in September.  I can’t wait to hear it…

“Rich Man,” the album’s title track, says Bramhall, “is about living for the day, recognizing it’s all we have and finding strength and personal spirituality. It’s about gratitude for spiritual and personal peace.” It also plays on the word “lowly”: “It has a dual meaning. It expresses the difficulty in achieving spiritual peace and gratitude, and represents getting close to the earth and the truth of who you are as a human being- in that state, you have everything you need.”

Here is a video that I love of Doyle playing “Cry”, featuring Alice Smith…

Matt Becker

Live from Matt’s House

What a fantastic time we had last weekend in Rockwood, ME.  We fished the Moose River (photo above), the East Outlet (which is the start of the Kennebec River) and the West Outlet.  The Moose River flows into Moosehead Lake and the East and West Outlets flow out of Moosehead lake.  I’ve been going up there the last several years with my close friend, Travis, who introduced me to the area.  This time, we were fortunate to have two of my other friends come along (Rob and Bruce), and something tells me they will be coming back for many years to come.  We stay at Maynard’s in Maine, in Rockwood, which is a great place to relax.  Maynards was started in 1919 and it has a lot of character.  The best part is that there are only four channels on the TV and your cellphone will barely work, which makes you relax and enjoy your time up there.  A close second is Moe, Larry, Curly and Shemp, who were the four mounted bucks in our cabin!

We have recently started choosing cabins that have a full kitchen, as I love to cook.  Maynard’s has a meal plan, which is great, and is reasonably priced, but there’s nothing better than cooking for your friends with fresh ingredients.  I’ll speak briefly about two dishes that I served.  The first is Pasta with a Cilantro cream sauce, with mixed grilled vegetables, tossed with fresh Salmon and a grilled pineapple on top.

For breakfast on Sunday, we had Pesto Poached Eggs over sliced Baby Potatoes with Salmon and Sriracha, paired with Asparagus wrapped in Bacon!  Hey, it may not be ZERO calories, but it sure helped four old men catch some fish!

If you are curious how I cooked the salmon, here’s how I did it.  I marinated the fish overnight with a lemon pepper spice blend and pineapple juice.  I also put some sliced pineapple and onion inside the fish so some of the flavor would soak in.  On a medium hot grill, I cooked the salmon on foil, turning it once.  I find the key to cooking salmon is to slightly undercook it (medium rare) as it will continue to cook after it’s taken off the grill.

If you’re ever up in Greenville, ME and want to know where the fish are, stop into the Maine Guide Fly Shop, Penny runs the show and Dan finds the fish.  They’ll tell you which flies to use and they will be spot on!  If you ever want to fish with a guide, this is the place to go.  Travis and I did that last year and it was the best day of fishing I’ve ever had.

A big shout out to my friend Bruce, who hasn’t fly fished in years, but caught salmon and brook trout using streamers, nymphs and dry flies!

Rob catching his first Land Locked Salmon!

Bruce 2.0

Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Rob and Travis!

Matt Becker

Live from Matt’s House

Tapas!

When the Grandparents came back from Barcelona a few weeks ago, they told Chloe all about the local Tapas.  As many of you know, my daughter Chloe loves to cook and she was excited to cook up a storm for us.  We had baked bread with tomato and garlic spread on the top, smoked oysters on gluten free crackers, shrimp with cocktail sauce and asparagus wrapped with prosciutto and cream cheese.

It was delicious!  Nice job on the Tapas Chloe!

Matt Becker

Live from Matt’s House

CLAPTON COMPOSES SOUNDTRACK FOR PHILIPPE MORA FILM, THREE DAYS IN AUSCHWITZ
Three Days in Auschwitz, a new documentary from acclaimed director Philippe Mora, with music by Eric Clapton, will debut at the New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland on 24 July. They are also the film’s producers. Speaking of their collaboration to Where’s Eric!, Mora said, “This was a unique and trusting collaboration between old friends. I was simply blown away by Eric’s score for this film which combined the tragedy of the events with a celebration of life. He created music with great dignity and emotional power. In my opinion, this is one for the ages.”

Their friendship goes back to 1967, when both resided at the artist’s colony, The Pheasantry, on the King’s Road, Chelsea. Mora had recently moved to London from Australia to make his mark in art and filmmaking. Eric produced the director’s first film, Trouble in Molopolis (1969). Twenty years later, the guitarist composed music for Mora’s alien encounter film, Communion, which starred Christopher Walken and Lindsey Crouse.

Three Days in Auschwitz grew out of Mora’s personal investigation as mother, Mirka, avoided Auschwitz by one day. On his father’s side many perished in the Holocaust. He started filming the documentary inside Auschwitz in 2010 following a 7 film retrospective of his work at the New Horizons Film Festival.

Of the documentary, Mora wrote on his website last year, “In 2010 I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps for the first time and filmed the visit. I knew many of my relatives had been killed there. Incredibly, that year I also found over 250 documents from Poland and Leipzig, documenting the fate of seven Morawski family members. In 2012, I revisited the camps again with my friend Harald Grosskopf, with whom I had made the documentary German Sons. The two visits triggered an ongoing personal investigation into the matrix of Holocaust Restitution, with the Morawskis, my murdered family, as a portal into the shocking world of Nazi barbarism and looting. With billions of dollars unaccounted for, for millions of victims and heirs, the issue remains an open wound, the legacy of unprecedented crimes against humanity. This film documents this odyssey into the heart of evil, past and present.”

Published in “Where’s Eric”

Live from Matt’s House

Matthew Becker

Beautiful……  Chilean Sea Bass!

Not so beautiful…  Patagonian Toothfish!

Have you ever heard of Patagonian toothfish? Well, chances are, you’ve eaten it — only when you ate it, it was called Chilean Seabass.

Yes, that’s right, Chilean Seabass is just a more “friendly” name for the Patagonian toothfish. The name under which it’s marketed was changed in 1977 by fisherman Lee Lantz , to make it sound more appetizing to the American market. Although the fish isn’t always caught in Chilean waters, and a toothfish isn’t technically even a bass, the term Chilean Seabass had “broad resonance among American seafood eaters.”

While the name change has certainly helped the Patagonian toothfish become more popular (there was a major Chilean Seabass boom in the ‘90s), it has also led to overfishing of the species. Without strict government regulation, sustainability hasn’t been a top priority and many fishermen have been fishing in areas where they shouldn’t be. Had this fish not been renamed to make it more marketable, would the demand have been as high and led to overfishing? Probably not.

It may seem odd that a fish’s name was changed to make it sound better, however it is actually more common than you may think. Monkfish was originally called Goosefish, Sea Urchin used to be called Whore’s Eggs and Orange Roughy was Slimehead.

Harbor Fish Market, Portland, ME

Harbor Fish Market is the best fish market that I’ve ever been to.  I haven’t been there in years, but at my latest Stonewall Kitchen event, Chef Bethany Taylor purchased 37 whole sea bass for our main course, which was Salt-Crusted Roasted Sea Bass with Fennel, Capers and Arugula.  It was fantastic, perhaps the freshest fish I have ever had.

Founded in 1969 by Ben Alfiero Sr., Harbor Fish Market is still in its original location on the water in Portland’s historic waterfront district. Ben along with his three sons, Nick, Ben and Mike, has forged a unique seafood company, with high quality product, strong customer relationships, with a wide, abundant array of product. The Alfieros have committed to high quality fish and seafood across the entire operation. The adage, “if the product is not fresh enough for us to take home and prepare, then we are not going to sell it, period,” has been our philosophy in the operation for years. By committing to these extremes in quality, Harbor Fish Market has set itself apart from other seafood companies, with its unique combination of high quality, wide selection, unparalleled service and customer satisfaction. The family has developed a very special and unique place to shop along with being a fun place to visit.

The picturesque and historic storefront at 9 Custom House Wharf has served as a backdrop for national and international advertisements, and is the subject of countless paintings, photographs, and post cards. Inside the store you will find a fully viewable processing room and a full view specialty cut room. There is over 50 linear feet of display showcases, displaying top quality fish, seafood and thousands of pounds of lobsters for your dining delight. Harbor Fish consistently wins local readers polls and “best of” contests. The retail store is a stop for local shoppers, visitors and a destination for tour groups and schools.

Perhaps it’s the 50 feet of mouth watering seafood display or the surging salt water tanks, that house hundred of Lobsters, or perhaps it’s the clean ocean smell, the knowledgeable sales staff, or the convenient parking at the front door that keeps people coming back for more, week after week and year after year. We invite you to come for a visit and see a true working fish market.

Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer

Norman’s Rare Guitars!

If you have some time, take a look at their website, it will blow your mind.  If you have some more time, take a look at their collection of videos taken in the store.  There are loads of celebrities who buy their guitars there, and there are tons of vintage guitars that will blow you away.  Here’s some info from their webpage…

Located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, Norman’s Rare Guitars carries a wide and often changing variety of new, used, and vintage guitars from many different manufacturers.

For more then 30 years, Norman Harris and his knowlegable staff are the authorities on vintage guitars. Answering your questions and finding that perfect guitar you have always wanted.

Norman’s Rare Guitars is a household name among top musicians and players worldwide. Each week, professional musicians we all know stop by to talk with Norm and see what new aquisitions he is hiding.

Gibson and Fender both use Norman’s Rare Guitar’s 30 years of buying, selling and collecting book for photographic references in the building of the reissues of the guitars.

By far, this is the best Gluten Free Pizza around!  I was amazed.  I’ve been GF for over 20 years and finally, a pizza that’s fantastic.  Be sure to visit The Community Oven at 845 Lafayette Road in Hampton, NH and get your fill of great food.  They have a wood fired brick oven that is to die for.

Above was my favorite pizza:  extra sauce, pepperoni, onions and mushrooms…

Live from Matt’s House

Matt Becker